Page:Insect Literature by Lafcadio Hearn.djvu/122

Rh than the workers whom they guard are not uncommon. But all these soldiers are Amazons, —or, more correctly speaking, semi-females. They can work sturdily; but being built for fighting and for heavy pulling chiefly, their usefulness is restricted to those directions in which force, rather than skill, is required.

Of the true females,—the Mothers-Elect,—there are very few indeed; and these are treated like 註